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Steampunk lightsaber

ok… so we’re going to Steampump again… so it’s time to start obsessing over steampunk costuming…

But, I need something… something gadgety…. but not a painted nerf gun…. not some googles (while cool, I feel everyone has goggles… thus lessening their coolness a bit)…. so I figured the logical thing…. a steampunk lightsaber!

Since I don’t have the ability to spend hundreds having someone make me one, looks like I’m going to have to do it myself.. So I’ve been searching for inspiration.

I have an Ultrasabers (purple LED of course) lightsaber, but… there is a problem…. (firstly, I’d want orange or green for a “steampunk” one, not purple) see, if you’re not carrying the lightsaber in it’s lighted mode… what do you do with it? hang it from your belt? with an “off” but obviously still there blade? that completely destroys any illusion of a lightsaber being a beam of light…. If you leave it on, then you have the even more an unlikely situation, since if you strapped a lightsaber to yourself when it’s on, you’d likely chop your legs off while walking…. But then if you have the hilt only, then do you bother with a light? since if you turn it on, and it’s simply an overglorified torch, that spoils the idea of a lightSABER too… Hmm…

I have contemplated making some sort of ornate filigree “guard” for a lightsaber blade, so that if it was turned on, it could be carried attached to a belt without cutting your clothing or legs off… but that’s also a lot of work, and I’ve discovered my lightsaber gets uncomfortably warm when left on for a long time.

So I think I’m going to have to go the hilt only route… I could pretend it’s a sort of sonic screwdriver type thing, thus doesn’t have a “blade”, but then what’s the fun in that? it’s not a lightsaber then…. ohh, decisions decisions..

So… so far my plan is to have the crystal point, near the end, illuminated, with some sort of surround – perhaps a mesh sort of thing…. with brass/bronze/copper metal… and some leather….

I’m trying to decide if I go the cheap easy route and buy a torch, stick an orange or green lens over the end, stick some brass/copper/leather bits to it and do it that way, or buy an LED, solder it in and build the thing from scratch (harder and scarier)… Hmm…

The idea will be that the hollow tube handle will have leather over most of it… not that it’s actually uncomfortable to hold… but to make it look like it’s not just a length of pipe….. with either a slim torch inside, or an LED inside.. at the moment both ends are open, so light could shine out either. I’m toying with the idea of putting either a watch movement in the back end (to close it up, or a glass ball or something so light can shine out…. and I’m thinking of a crystal point with some sort of metal guard around it coming out the front (smaller end)